6% of households only use DTT

Television is part of Portuguese families' daily lives. People can have various means of access to receive the television signal. ANACOM is publishing the report "Means of access to the TV signal in 2025". It is the result of a set of questions on the means of access to the TV signal proposed by ANACOM and integrated and collected by INE in the "Survey on the Use of Information and Communication Technologies by Households", carried out between May and August 2025.

In 2025, around 6.3% of households used digital terrestrial television (DTT) exclusively, which allows them to watch Portugal's national channels live and free of charge, a decrease of 1.1 percentage points (p.p.) compared to the previous year.

Simultaneous access to STV (subscription TV signal distribution service) and DTT in the main residence reached 16.3% of households (+0.1 p.p. on the previous year).

Considering main residences alone, 89.2% of households had STV, which is the main means of access to the TV signal used by households. In turn, DTT was used by 22.7% of households in their main residence, but not necessarily exclusively. Since 2022, the percentage of households with access to DTT has been falling, and 2025 saw the lowest figure since this type of information started been collected (2016).

Among households with secondary residences, around 43.1% reported having some DTT access in these homes, lower than in 2024 (46%).

Considering main residences and families with secondary homes, it is estimated that around 24.4% had access to the TV signal via DTT, which is lower than the figure recorded in the previous year (-1.3 p.p.).

With regard to the number of devices, in 2025 there were 1.5 million television sets with DTT access, 1.3 million in primary residences and 211,000 in secondary residences. There was a decrease in the number of television sets with DTT access compared to the previous year (-1%).

The use of DTT by families varies according to geographical location, both in primary and secondary homes.

The Centre (9.3%) and North (8%) regions had the highest percentage of households with sole access to DTT. If DTT is not necessarily considered exclusively, these regions and the Alentejo stand out for having the highest penetration rates (between 26% and 28%). The STV penetration rate was higher than the national average in the Autonomous Regions, the Setúbal Peninsula and Greater Lisbon.

Family type and household income influence the means of accessing the TV signal used. Families with children and higher incomes tend to have a higher penetration of STV. On the other hand, families without children and families with lower incomes had higher DTT penetration rates. Around 13.5% of families with the lowest incomes (1st quintile) had exclusive access to DTT.

Compared to the previous year, there was a decrease in the DTT penetration rate among single-parent families and large families with children.

Consult:

• Means of access to the TV signal in 2025https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1824803 (only available in Portuguese)

Would you like to know more about how to access DTT, which allows you to watch Portugal's national channels live and for free? Check out frequently asked questionshttps://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=378618 about DTT.